Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation

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Death Penalty

The Olympia FOR works hard to abolish the death penalty and has an active Committee for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. People can contact our committee at deathpenalty@olympiafor.org

Monday October 1 Son of a Murder Victim Tells Why He OPPOSES the Death Penalty in Olympia (News Release) The public is invited to hear the son of a murder victim explain why he opposes the death penalty. Bill Lucero will speak and answer questions at 7:00 pm Monday October 1 at Olympia Friends Meeting House at 3201 Boston Harbor Road NE, Olympia (on the left just north of Priest Point Park). The public is invited to arrive at 6:30 to enjoy refreshments and social time and to browse the information table.

Death Penalty News

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens explains changing to oppose the death penalty: Adam Liptak reported in the November 27, 2010, New York Times the story of how one US Supreme Court Justice came to oppose the death penalty. Shortly after joining the Court in 1976, Justice Stevens voted to bring the death penalty back after its arbitrariness had been ruled unconstitutional in 1972. He wrote that clear procedures could make it possible to ensure “evenhanded, rational and consistent imposition of death sentences under law.” But in 2008, two years before announcing his retirement, Justice Stevens wrote in a Court decision that he now believed the death penalty was unconstitutional. In November 2010 he explained his reasoning. He lamented that newer justices and “regrettable judicial activism” had resulted in a death penalty system full of racism, biased against defendants, and infected with politics and hysteria. See www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/us/28memo.html

International support grows for a United Nations moratorium on the death penalty: On November 11 the US joined China, India, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in voting against a resolution in the United Nations seeking a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty. The motion passed with 107 countries supporting, 38 opposing, and 36 abstaining. The vote occurred in the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, a body composed of all 192 UN member states that addresses human rights and humanitarian issues. The General Assembly adopted a similar resolution in 2007, but the 2010 vote won by a larger margin.

Three major newspapers in Texas call for ending the death penalty: Texas's largest newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, recently joined the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman in calling for abolishing the death penalty. Massively embarrassing scandals about innocent people on death row (and some executed), racial bias, and other problems have led the three newspapers to conclude that the death penalty is unworkable, and that Texas should stop it altogether. See the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7362050.html

Learn about and discuss the Death Penalty: Olympia FOR can present a 6-session study group in your faith community or other organization: Are you troubled by the death penalty? You can learn a lot about it and discuss various aspects in the Olympia FOR’s six-session study group, which addresses many aspects of the death penalty, including innocence, racial and economic class bias, cost, victims, legal history, and other factors. It can include a variety of faith perspectives if you want them. Participants read and discuss various printed materials, watch three compelling short videos, and share their own insights. The Olympia FOR’s Committee for Alternatives to the Death Penalty offers this study group series for faith communities and other settings. If you would like to host this Death Penalty Study Group from Faith Perspectives, (or the study group without the faith-based content), please contact (360) 491-9093 glen@olympiafor.org

ACLU report on faulty decisions in Washington state’s DP cases (Word and .pdf)

ALI article by Adam Liptak – Jan 4, 20120 (Word and .pdf)

Arbitrariness in the Courts 2007 from DPIC (Word)

Article about the Illinois Moratorium on the Death Penalty (Word) pdf

Catholic Workshop (.pdf only)

Christian Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty ( .pdf.)

Christian Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty (Word)

Colorado Law Review – 116-page report on the DP moratorium movement (.pdf only)

Cruel and Unusual Punishment – one page of information and insights (Word and .pdf)

Cycle of Violence - McVeigh, War, the Death Penalty pdf

Death Penalty Information Resources (Word) pdf

Death Penalty Fact Sheet (Word) pdf